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Jun. 20th, 2008 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tammaiyaOkay, god DAMN do I need to make a post, I've been so lazy lately. In no particular order, because I am feeling uninclined to force myself to remember things.
* The Saturday before last I went out to Ikebukuro in search of jeans. I have two pairs here but the ones that fit me properly have worn through at the inner thigh. However, looking for pants that fit for someone of my body shape/size/height in Japan is a somewhat fruitless task; the Uniqlo in Musashi Sakai only created frustration (although I managed to get trackpants that fit perfectly well, go figure), and even guy jeans are a wash because the material is too rough for me and guys are just a different shape anyway. So I was looking for a particular shop with western sizes in Sunshine City-- you know, the enormous department store Seishirou blew up in X-- which I didn't find. I did find GAP. It didn't help, because apparently GAP only has midget sizes. You'd think if they start at size 00 I'd fit into the largest size, 10, but you'd be wrong. Ouch. I don't think I'd fit into any of jeans here even if I were clinically underweight, my hips are just too wide.
Anyway. The trip to Ikebukuro mostly made me grumpy because I went after work and still had to do grocery shopping afterwards, and I walked around a lot and tried on a lot of clothes that didn't fit me. Not that this doesn't happen to me at home, but not to the same extent. I did see a live jazz band, though, and located a Ghibli shop and a Namco amusement park (yes, IN the department store) which I didn't go into because it costs money and I was both alone and tired, but made a mental note of.
The trip to Ikebukuro was not a complete waste, however, because before I went to the shopping centre, I went to the Zodiac-themed cafe I'd walked past the other time I'd been in Ikebukuro and wanted to eat parfaits at. And I did! Both the Leo parfait and an omu-rice (omelette wrapped around rice), which is something that comes up in pop culture a lot and that I have never eaten and always thought sounded kind of weird but wanted to try at least once so I'd know. Surprisingly quite tasty! I kind of thought it'd be disgusting.
I also discovered that the Japanese zodiac is TOTALLY WACKY and that not only are the periods completely different (Scorpius only lasts for 5 days, and I don't think ANY of them coincide to what I would call Scorpius), there's a MYSTERIOUS THIRTEENTH ZODIAC. And what's even more awesome? I *AM* this mysterious thirteenth zodiac! I noticed it when I went to look at the Sagittarius horoscope and went "hang on, what does it mean, starting December 17? I'm on the 13th! Dad's a Sagittarius and he's the 30th of November!" which is how I noticed they were different, and then I recounted the zodiacs and tried to figure out which one was not like the others at the same time as looking for my birthday, and I discovered these two things coincided: end of November to mid December, the serpent. Weird, huh?
Another somewhat memorable moment was on the way back to the train station when I saw the week's top ten singles and I stopped to watch it and see how many of the artists I knew (about 4 or 5)... and then this KAT-TUN single came up in 2 and I just LOL'D SO HARD because WHAT THE FUCK, HAHAHAHAHAHA. I have since discovered that it was Don't U Ever Stop, and procured the PV for myself, and yes, it still makes me crack up every time. THE COSTUMES, ZOMG. *rolls*
Then I went to Musashi Sakai, did food shopping, bought sushi and salad to take home for dinner, and carried back far more than the recommended health & safety weight limit in groceries. Whence upon I crawled into bed and fell asleep instead of going to a friend's birthday party. Stupid shopping.
* I personally didn't do anything on that Sunday, but it was the day there was a killing spree in Akihabara, which kind of creeps me out. Not that stuff like that often happens here or that I think it will happen again or even that I usually hang out in Akihabara-- I've only been there once-- but it's still conceivable that I could have decided to take a trip out there that day. Which feels kind of weird to know.
* The week that followed (ie last week) was pretty much a week of FAILBOAT. I spent the entire time exhausted-- which was partially my own fault for faffing around online and stuff, but I also was having issues with insomnia (I've given up on diet coke, and am now drinking tea and water. my life, so exciting)-- and missed three classes, mostly on purpose, and was 10 minutes late to work on Saturday morning, not at all on purpose. The classes I missed were Japanese Religions (Monday 5th period), Ukiyo-e (Tuesday 3rd period) and integrated Japanese (Friday 2nd period). The first time I was in my room and it was time to go and I was just so TIRED that I went, screw it, I'm taking a nap; second time I just skipped because I knew it was going to be agony trying not to zone out in class, and stayed outside the cafeteria talking to Akane and this other Japanese girl who'd started talking to Dawn and I at lunch instead. Friday was kind of a LITTLE less on purpose, because my alarm went off, and I went UGH and hit snooze, and then it went off again and I thought, there is just no way I have the physical energy to remove myself from this bed and turned it off. (I later discovered high blood sugar was a factor. D'oh.) There was a slight repeat with the snooze thing with work the next day. <<
* Just in case you're wondering, I didn't skip any classes on purpose this week and I was quite proud of myself for that, but unfortunately I left my phone on silent on Tuesday night and my alarm didn't go off on Wednesday morning, which unfortunately meant I slept, entirely accidentally, to the very minute the class was finishing. I did have the presence of mind to drag my zombie carcus out of bed then, though, and that meant I was able to go meet up with people at the cafeteria for lunch, where I then stayed for two hours talking to Akiko and a guy Jamshid knows from work called Ryou. He was really nice, so I told him to just email me on my phone if he needed any help with his English homework. (10 pages a week of An Ideal Husband, it's not exactly light stuff for a second language.)
* Saturdays have sort of become a grocery day, since I'm already out near the train station for work ANYWAY and I usually need stuff by then. Ugh, what a thing to look forward to. But last week I managed to get a new towel and FINALLY bought myself a kettle, so that's something. On the very negative side, the supermarket rejected my credit card (I briefly panicked that I'd somehow exceeded my $2000 limit, but when dad checked after I got home there was almost nothing on it, so must've been a system glitch) and I had to pay in cash. This is a big deal because my parents are paying off my credit cards-- so in other words, mostly my groceries and my phone bills-- and I'm paying for everything else out of my rapidly dwindling savings. Everything else including rent, electricity, water, food (either eating out, like I do every day for lunch, or things from, say, the bakery which are not bought at the supermarket), etc. I'm working, but it's only 2.5 hours a week at 2000 yen an hour with monthly pay packets, which doesn't really put much of a dent in anything. Anyway. I guess I'll worry about it when I run out of money, since my parents will support me when that inevitably happens.
* So, Japanese Religion. We did stuff on Buddhism, which was interesting, and I now know what branch of Buddhism Mirage of Blaze is concerned with. (All important knowledge!) Also, we've been talking about the Yasukuni Shrine and the believe that warriors are deified after death, which traces back at least as far as Tokugawa Ieyasu. I knew the name of the place where he is enshrined-- Nikkou (which is where the Tsutsuga mirror arc largely takes place, and where I am going to visit with my parents for the purpose of SEEING said shrine). I also knew the kanji for the name of the warlord who preceded Tokugawa, Hideyoshi, when the teacher forgot it and he was like "WOW, you know this stuff better than me!" On the one hand I feel pleased with myself for knowing that stuff... but on the other hand, I feel a little shifty about the fact that the REASON I know it is because I've read Mirage of Blaze. XDDD;;;
* Today I spent the afternoon being adult and responsible. THE TRAUMA. Seriously, an hour and a half of cleaning, followed by exactly an hour of homework, plus the cooking of dinner, even if that was just soy patties and unexpectedly delicious instant miso (christening the new kettle!)-- I feel justified in having gone "UGH" and flopped down in front of Tales of the Abyss for most of the night. Speaking of which, Guy/Luke makes me wibble so much. Which is not to say that I don't like Tear, because I do. I think she and Luke are sweet together, it just doesn't hit me so hard and make me wibble the same way.
* Weekend plans: work tomorrow morning (one less class; Noro-san had to reschedule for a double the week after, which makes three weeks in a row of unusual classes-- Tamaki had to change her lesson two weeks ago, and Yui didn't come last week), followed by grocery shopping (whoo, my credit card better damn work this time), and going over to Debbie's room to watch Indiana Jones and the Raider of the Lost Arc in the evening, as a prelude to going out to watch the new movie on Sunday evening. (It comes out here tomorrow.)
* Random stuff: watched all of Den-O. Saw 4x08-09 of Doctor Who, haven't got 10 yet. Have been watching old eps of D no Arashi, and also started watching Cartoon KAT-TUN. Have no shame/dignity/etc/what-have-you; JE is the root of all evil.
Also, how come the guys on my campus can look cute when they wear those nerdy black frame glasses and various guys in JE can't? It mystifies me. They're idols, shouldn't they make it look good when normal people can't? Like reversal of the natural order of things. XD
* Been wearing pigtails mostly for a while now. Have been called cute three times. Wonder if I should be more worried about this as an adult, but a compliment is a compliment and I've never had an issue with being called cute.
* Have gone back to Aikido for the past two weeks, and paid the club fee. Stiff but it's good for me, and everyone in the club is really nice. I don't think I mentioned it, but on the way home from work the Thursday two weeks ago I ran into one of my sempai and he remarked that I hadn't been around, and I promised that I'd be there next Tuesday. I think it was good because it gave me extra motivation to go even though I was tired (that was the day I skipped Ukiyo-e).
* Have been getting back to games. KuriKuri DS is the most frustrating fucking game on this planet and there's no walkthrough. Mostly that's not the issue because I can figure things out, I just can't DO them. There is this one boss I have no idea how to kill, though, and I've been avoiding it.
Meanwhile I am reminded how much I love Tales of the Abyss. ;___;
* Midterms came, midterms went (as did a formal presentation on Australia's declining birth rate and aging population, which was utterly thrilling and required me to draw graphs). The integrated one went fine. I'm pretty sure the kanji one went well but I know I got at least one wrong. I still have to write reports for Religion and Ukiyo. On the bright side, all they require is simple descriptiveness. I don't think I've written a purely informative paper without analysis/argument/whatever in about 7 years.
Not so brilliantly, I have to write the abstract for my paper for the ANU by the end of the month. Ugh. And Ikeda-sensei and Ishihara-sensei are BOTH taking research leave next semester. DOUBLE UGH.
* There has been writing! It has been for Kamen Rider Kabuto. I've stalled a little now but I got over 16000 words on various fics done before I started to slow down. Two of them are finished. ... There may also have been some bunnies/promises made to Becky and Meg regarding Arashi, but you can't prove anything. *shifty*
* On a final note, CHECK MY ICONS, DUDES! I caved and bought an add-on. This is a pretty solid testament to certain pathetic recent obsessions. Cough cough.
* The Saturday before last I went out to Ikebukuro in search of jeans. I have two pairs here but the ones that fit me properly have worn through at the inner thigh. However, looking for pants that fit for someone of my body shape/size/height in Japan is a somewhat fruitless task; the Uniqlo in Musashi Sakai only created frustration (although I managed to get trackpants that fit perfectly well, go figure), and even guy jeans are a wash because the material is too rough for me and guys are just a different shape anyway. So I was looking for a particular shop with western sizes in Sunshine City-- you know, the enormous department store Seishirou blew up in X-- which I didn't find. I did find GAP. It didn't help, because apparently GAP only has midget sizes. You'd think if they start at size 00 I'd fit into the largest size, 10, but you'd be wrong. Ouch. I don't think I'd fit into any of jeans here even if I were clinically underweight, my hips are just too wide.
Anyway. The trip to Ikebukuro mostly made me grumpy because I went after work and still had to do grocery shopping afterwards, and I walked around a lot and tried on a lot of clothes that didn't fit me. Not that this doesn't happen to me at home, but not to the same extent. I did see a live jazz band, though, and located a Ghibli shop and a Namco amusement park (yes, IN the department store) which I didn't go into because it costs money and I was both alone and tired, but made a mental note of.
The trip to Ikebukuro was not a complete waste, however, because before I went to the shopping centre, I went to the Zodiac-themed cafe I'd walked past the other time I'd been in Ikebukuro and wanted to eat parfaits at. And I did! Both the Leo parfait and an omu-rice (omelette wrapped around rice), which is something that comes up in pop culture a lot and that I have never eaten and always thought sounded kind of weird but wanted to try at least once so I'd know. Surprisingly quite tasty! I kind of thought it'd be disgusting.
I also discovered that the Japanese zodiac is TOTALLY WACKY and that not only are the periods completely different (Scorpius only lasts for 5 days, and I don't think ANY of them coincide to what I would call Scorpius), there's a MYSTERIOUS THIRTEENTH ZODIAC. And what's even more awesome? I *AM* this mysterious thirteenth zodiac! I noticed it when I went to look at the Sagittarius horoscope and went "hang on, what does it mean, starting December 17? I'm on the 13th! Dad's a Sagittarius and he's the 30th of November!" which is how I noticed they were different, and then I recounted the zodiacs and tried to figure out which one was not like the others at the same time as looking for my birthday, and I discovered these two things coincided: end of November to mid December, the serpent. Weird, huh?
Another somewhat memorable moment was on the way back to the train station when I saw the week's top ten singles and I stopped to watch it and see how many of the artists I knew (about 4 or 5)... and then this KAT-TUN single came up in 2 and I just LOL'D SO HARD because WHAT THE FUCK, HAHAHAHAHAHA. I have since discovered that it was Don't U Ever Stop, and procured the PV for myself, and yes, it still makes me crack up every time. THE COSTUMES, ZOMG. *rolls*
Then I went to Musashi Sakai, did food shopping, bought sushi and salad to take home for dinner, and carried back far more than the recommended health & safety weight limit in groceries. Whence upon I crawled into bed and fell asleep instead of going to a friend's birthday party. Stupid shopping.
* I personally didn't do anything on that Sunday, but it was the day there was a killing spree in Akihabara, which kind of creeps me out. Not that stuff like that often happens here or that I think it will happen again or even that I usually hang out in Akihabara-- I've only been there once-- but it's still conceivable that I could have decided to take a trip out there that day. Which feels kind of weird to know.
* The week that followed (ie last week) was pretty much a week of FAILBOAT. I spent the entire time exhausted-- which was partially my own fault for faffing around online and stuff, but I also was having issues with insomnia (I've given up on diet coke, and am now drinking tea and water. my life, so exciting)-- and missed three classes, mostly on purpose, and was 10 minutes late to work on Saturday morning, not at all on purpose. The classes I missed were Japanese Religions (Monday 5th period), Ukiyo-e (Tuesday 3rd period) and integrated Japanese (Friday 2nd period). The first time I was in my room and it was time to go and I was just so TIRED that I went, screw it, I'm taking a nap; second time I just skipped because I knew it was going to be agony trying not to zone out in class, and stayed outside the cafeteria talking to Akane and this other Japanese girl who'd started talking to Dawn and I at lunch instead. Friday was kind of a LITTLE less on purpose, because my alarm went off, and I went UGH and hit snooze, and then it went off again and I thought, there is just no way I have the physical energy to remove myself from this bed and turned it off. (I later discovered high blood sugar was a factor. D'oh.) There was a slight repeat with the snooze thing with work the next day. <<
* Just in case you're wondering, I didn't skip any classes on purpose this week and I was quite proud of myself for that, but unfortunately I left my phone on silent on Tuesday night and my alarm didn't go off on Wednesday morning, which unfortunately meant I slept, entirely accidentally, to the very minute the class was finishing. I did have the presence of mind to drag my zombie carcus out of bed then, though, and that meant I was able to go meet up with people at the cafeteria for lunch, where I then stayed for two hours talking to Akiko and a guy Jamshid knows from work called Ryou. He was really nice, so I told him to just email me on my phone if he needed any help with his English homework. (10 pages a week of An Ideal Husband, it's not exactly light stuff for a second language.)
* Saturdays have sort of become a grocery day, since I'm already out near the train station for work ANYWAY and I usually need stuff by then. Ugh, what a thing to look forward to. But last week I managed to get a new towel and FINALLY bought myself a kettle, so that's something. On the very negative side, the supermarket rejected my credit card (I briefly panicked that I'd somehow exceeded my $2000 limit, but when dad checked after I got home there was almost nothing on it, so must've been a system glitch) and I had to pay in cash. This is a big deal because my parents are paying off my credit cards-- so in other words, mostly my groceries and my phone bills-- and I'm paying for everything else out of my rapidly dwindling savings. Everything else including rent, electricity, water, food (either eating out, like I do every day for lunch, or things from, say, the bakery which are not bought at the supermarket), etc. I'm working, but it's only 2.5 hours a week at 2000 yen an hour with monthly pay packets, which doesn't really put much of a dent in anything. Anyway. I guess I'll worry about it when I run out of money, since my parents will support me when that inevitably happens.
* So, Japanese Religion. We did stuff on Buddhism, which was interesting, and I now know what branch of Buddhism Mirage of Blaze is concerned with. (All important knowledge!) Also, we've been talking about the Yasukuni Shrine and the believe that warriors are deified after death, which traces back at least as far as Tokugawa Ieyasu. I knew the name of the place where he is enshrined-- Nikkou (which is where the Tsutsuga mirror arc largely takes place, and where I am going to visit with my parents for the purpose of SEEING said shrine). I also knew the kanji for the name of the warlord who preceded Tokugawa, Hideyoshi, when the teacher forgot it and he was like "WOW, you know this stuff better than me!" On the one hand I feel pleased with myself for knowing that stuff... but on the other hand, I feel a little shifty about the fact that the REASON I know it is because I've read Mirage of Blaze. XDDD;;;
* Today I spent the afternoon being adult and responsible. THE TRAUMA. Seriously, an hour and a half of cleaning, followed by exactly an hour of homework, plus the cooking of dinner, even if that was just soy patties and unexpectedly delicious instant miso (christening the new kettle!)-- I feel justified in having gone "UGH" and flopped down in front of Tales of the Abyss for most of the night. Speaking of which, Guy/Luke makes me wibble so much. Which is not to say that I don't like Tear, because I do. I think she and Luke are sweet together, it just doesn't hit me so hard and make me wibble the same way.
* Weekend plans: work tomorrow morning (one less class; Noro-san had to reschedule for a double the week after, which makes three weeks in a row of unusual classes-- Tamaki had to change her lesson two weeks ago, and Yui didn't come last week), followed by grocery shopping (whoo, my credit card better damn work this time), and going over to Debbie's room to watch Indiana Jones and the Raider of the Lost Arc in the evening, as a prelude to going out to watch the new movie on Sunday evening. (It comes out here tomorrow.)
* Random stuff: watched all of Den-O. Saw 4x08-09 of Doctor Who, haven't got 10 yet. Have been watching old eps of D no Arashi, and also started watching Cartoon KAT-TUN. Have no shame/dignity/etc/what-have-you; JE is the root of all evil.
Also, how come the guys on my campus can look cute when they wear those nerdy black frame glasses and various guys in JE can't? It mystifies me. They're idols, shouldn't they make it look good when normal people can't? Like reversal of the natural order of things. XD
* Been wearing pigtails mostly for a while now. Have been called cute three times. Wonder if I should be more worried about this as an adult, but a compliment is a compliment and I've never had an issue with being called cute.
* Have gone back to Aikido for the past two weeks, and paid the club fee. Stiff but it's good for me, and everyone in the club is really nice. I don't think I mentioned it, but on the way home from work the Thursday two weeks ago I ran into one of my sempai and he remarked that I hadn't been around, and I promised that I'd be there next Tuesday. I think it was good because it gave me extra motivation to go even though I was tired (that was the day I skipped Ukiyo-e).
* Have been getting back to games. KuriKuri DS is the most frustrating fucking game on this planet and there's no walkthrough. Mostly that's not the issue because I can figure things out, I just can't DO them. There is this one boss I have no idea how to kill, though, and I've been avoiding it.
Meanwhile I am reminded how much I love Tales of the Abyss. ;___;
* Midterms came, midterms went (as did a formal presentation on Australia's declining birth rate and aging population, which was utterly thrilling and required me to draw graphs). The integrated one went fine. I'm pretty sure the kanji one went well but I know I got at least one wrong. I still have to write reports for Religion and Ukiyo. On the bright side, all they require is simple descriptiveness. I don't think I've written a purely informative paper without analysis/argument/whatever in about 7 years.
Not so brilliantly, I have to write the abstract for my paper for the ANU by the end of the month. Ugh. And Ikeda-sensei and Ishihara-sensei are BOTH taking research leave next semester. DOUBLE UGH.
* There has been writing! It has been for Kamen Rider Kabuto. I've stalled a little now but I got over 16000 words on various fics done before I started to slow down. Two of them are finished. ... There may also have been some bunnies/promises made to Becky and Meg regarding Arashi, but you can't prove anything. *shifty*
* On a final note, CHECK MY ICONS, DUDES! I caved and bought an add-on. This is a pretty solid testament to certain pathetic recent obsessions. Cough cough.
